Four-year-old Salina is playing with a battery-operated bubble gun. Suddenly, the batteries fail and the gun no longer produces bubbles. She rapidly hits the trigger a few times, shakes it and tries again, and finally discards the gun to search for something else to play with. What is the MOST likely explanation for this behavior series?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Salina's behavior demonstrates extinction, where a previously reinforced behavior (playing with the bubble gun, which produced bubbles) no longer produces the expected outcome (no bubbles), leading to the cessation of that behavior.

Four-Year-Old Salina Is Playing with a Battery-Operated Bubble Gun